Or, if not, will you at least be humming along with its gleefully bombastic theme tune tonight, as the show reaches the fi nal episode of its comeback series – 32 years after it fi rst stormed on to British television?
When one male and one female contender are named series champions after 10 weeks of Lycra-clad jousting, they will not be the only ones celebrating. There were some groans when the BBC announced its revival of the decades-old ITV format, originally fronted by Ulrika Jonsson and John Fashanu . But the decision has been more than vindicated.
The launch episode in January, presented by father and son duo Bradley and Barney Walsh , was watched by more than 6 million people; with catchup viewers, that fi gure is now 9.8 million, averaging 8 million across the series. In the multi-channel era, that’s a smash hit – and the BBC’s biggest entertainment launch in seven years. For a broadcaster forced to continually prove its broad appeal in the face of assaults on its funding model, it could scarcely be more welcome.
Kalpna Patel-Knight, the BBC’s head of entertainment commissioning , admits even she has been surprised by the scale of the programme’s success. When the idea was first pitched by producers Hungry Bear , “it defi nitely wasn’t a yes straight away”, she says .
Bu hikaye The Guardian dergisinin March 30, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye The Guardian dergisinin March 30, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
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